Sunday, 14 October 2018

It seemed
like a quick flight back home to China. Beijing Capital Airlines has a new
route directly from London to Qingdao. Got window seat and filmed the last
images for The SeaHut. My mother was so good with me in
England; even though distraught about Pat my brother and his slow recovery from
the stroke, she managed to do a final interview which basically has the film
tied up.

Got it in
the can!

Students

Of course, I
still have animation to do, colour, motion, resizing images, subtitles, before
I can really say I have finished. Never done till it’s done, and even then we
always think of things we could change, add.

Musings on a
plane. One drifts between time zones and clouds, and sometimes one country
becomes like a meditation. Russia is huge – it takes 6 hours or more to move
slowly from East to West, and then dive onto Turkmenistan, curve around, outer,
then inner Mongolia, to China.

By this time,
and having watched the only four films on offer, I have remade my world, that
of my family, friends, Pat can walk and talk again, and old rifts are healed,
books are written, new film projects are started, and I am able to finish
everything in China that I need and want to, and can come home to be with the
family.

Dreams!

Then
reality, as I stand in front of 25 third year students talking about
experimentation and what I expect of them this semester. It is the first time
that I teach a class alone without Wang Ying. It is an experiment, and we will
see how well I do with my odd Chinese and the students’ bitty English. We all
know each other, we have grown together for 3 years now, so it is not the first
time I have them as students. We are used to each other, but as this is a
primary class, the task before me is a bit daunting.

Jeanne and Ying

Class one
finished very well. We all have a good idea of where we are heading, and let’s
hope by next week everyone hands me in an idea. I showed them some of Thin Blue Line with Chinese subtitles; they loved the fact they could shoot something
which is not purely observational, the norm in China in film schools.

Back home

Tattoo girl

Students

If I leave
next semester, thrn this is the last documentary class I will take. I feel very
sad, so much time given, so much learnt. This is why I look for other chances
to keep my soul here. One is The Blue
Book of Film which finally came out. All those arduous statistics have
finally been put into grids, and
printed, and handed to UNESCO,* - 125 pages.

Wang Ying
and I got the book yesterday. They want us to continue with them each year, so,
no matter where I am in the world, the Internet breaks down barriers. We have
finally become a part of their official team. It makes me so proud, it is all
part of the incredible Chinese adventure.

The Blue Book of Film

Demolition

Outside
school at West Gate they are pulling down more homes. I met a man who was
scavenging; he invited me onto his patch. I found a few treasures. He lived
there last month, now he has moved to the new buildings. Is he sad? Not really
he says, they were old and falling down. (They, the buildings, are only ten
years old!)

Fiber glass
is still used in China, wads of it lying around on the street. “It’s normal,”
he says. It is too complicated to go into here, so a good film to view is

also
applauded here in China. The director is a gentle and warm person. He came two
years ago to the indie festival in Qingdao, and with he left us regarding his
work as totally outstanding for its achievement and bravery.

Festive,
greedy, the whole of China eating day long and in between sweet cakes filled
with so many types of moon cake that it would take an entire blog to write down
each one.

Walking and
ambling is the thing to do. The weather is still sweet, the sun waning but
strong, and the sea breeze cooling, while the streets of Qingdao are humming
happy holiday songs.

Yuen
suggested we attempt a walk from the railway station to Old Stone Man, 40
kilometers along the shore during National Day Holiday. After moon harvest
festival, the next holiday is one week for National Day, for the new People’s
Republic of China.

Off we head.
9 am meeting, coffee by the pier, and first stop Badaguan, the old German
settlement which nestles on the beach. I am not a tour guide, but this is truly
one of China’s most sophisticated cities, charming, old style, old buildings
protected so much more than in other cities. One can feel the past, walk the
past, and on the way one meets the culture like these holiday dancing ladies - and
then the peanut picker laying out the nuts to dry in the seaside sun.

Morning

Ladies

Peanuts galore

Falling
everywhere are sheets and blankets hanging out to air.

And children
carry the Chinese flag, waving it like a precious toy.

Washing line

Boy with a flag

As we get
past the half way mark, 20 kilometers, the seascape changes and we turn into a
bay, and I thought I was in the south of France. From now on it is small bay
after small bay till we reach Old Man Stone. Exhausted, barely able to walk
further.

Night falls
and the park is lit up with lanterns. Like a mystical land stretching far
beyond us.

Boats

Beach marriage

Could be France

October 2018

Wake Li
and Jinan

Mid-week,
Yuan and I are off to Jinan, 3 hours from Qingdao to film Wake Li, a
performance artist, filmmaker, painter, rebel and radical, who has been around
the art scene since the 70s. I met him two years ago at the Indie festival and
was totally beguiled by him.

Today, at
61, he has an Iggy Pop torso, an energy to die for, a 24 year old girl-friend,
and is finishing his latest film

On the way to Jinan

Yuan

We spend 3
days filming in and around Jinan. In his studio, in the grotto where he has
sculpted a huge Buddha, and with his parents. It is almost impossible to keep
up with Wake Li, and my Chinese is limited for this type of work, but there is
something that shines so deep and so differently, the look in his eyes, the way
he moves his body, the paint brushes in his hands, his eroticism, a devoted and
daring and very young girlfriend. One does not need a language for this. The
man who has made fashionable a toilet plunger hat has won my heart.

We shall
come back in December with the beginning of a very, very rough-cut and see what
we can carve out. He has given me the use of his films, which will be the
backbone of the film. Yuan and I are excited, and I am happy to finally be
doing my last piece here on a Chinese artist.

Friday, 12 October 2018

All around
me things are changing: the weather, the students, my own daughter who – on the
same day my brother Patrick had his stroke - found out she is pregnant.

All these
things I think of on the plane back home.
Do I stay or do I go?

I want to
stay in China. I love China, I love the chance I have been given, the people I
know here, the friendships, the heartaches, students’ stories, creating, eating
fish and drinking endless beer, still stumbling over this – for me – impossibly
hard language, grateful for two wonderful jobs here, grateful to Concordia
University and teachers like Marie-Ellen Davis, Marielle Natasloska and Donato
Tataro for being such inspiring, giving teachers and keeping their teachings
close to heart.

I want to
stay, but I also want to go

Fish

Grapes

Princess

Boys

Sign

Tasty food

Lovers

Home, to
where my heart is: my family, mother, daughter, brothers, my love, France, my
village of Tuchan. To Summer rolling into September and the grape harvest. To
sitting in Narbonne by the oldest shop, where Madame Gracia refuses to give up
her commerce – she is 87 and still going strong.

Our Lady of the Garden

Narbonne

The semester is almost over now. The graduate students have finished their master work - the
thesis and 30-minute film. We mentored 5 graduates this past year and the work
is good.

This is the
final work after 4 years of study. They have to do a complete documentary using
all the knowledge they have learnt from year 1 until now. They need to experiment
and use innovation. They also need to write a 5-8,000 word thesis on the
progress and structure, using film language as well as creative non-fiction.
And the big heads come from Beijing to judge and listen to their defence.

It is a
dramatic month, time to say goodbye and time to wrap up last minute edits which
will then be sent off to various student festivals around the world.

The day of
graduation, each student, donned in full regalia, goes to get their diploma and
have photos taken, just like any other university in the world. And parents
come to thank us, their teachers, and then to a restaurant and merriment all
night.

Ying and Meleke

Graduates

Graduates

Sign

I take my
leave again, this time directly to London, home to the family, to the hospital,
to my brother who can now sit up and eat and communicate with gestures. He is
amazing, he is strong, but the journey will be long, very long.

Friends of
the Forum https://www.twforum.co.uk/products/patstonbury-t-shirt Tunbridge Wells organized a benefit
gig/ fundraiser for Patrick, his mates from the music world who love him and gave
their time, energy and love to perform for us. It was magical. I am honoured to
be his sister.

And time
passes. I go to France, sit in Narbonne by the old shop, eat moules frites and drink chilled wine
with my gypsy man.

Narbonne

Freedom

Gypsies

The show off

I dream a
little dream that it was all yesterday and things stand still for a day. But
they don’t

However,
Patrick’s situation has changed me. Life is more beautiful, life is more
important, each smile is more intense, each thank you is more sincere, and each
tear is deeper.

The day before
I return to China, Pat is moved to Queen’s Hospital in London. I go with him in
the ambulance. On the way we stop for a coffee in Blackheath, the sun pours
through the window, Pat closes his eyes, and he looks peaceful, calm. Two
blackbirds stop just outside the window. I love the blackbird family – crows,
ravens, magpies - two for joy.

We take mum
up in the car. It is hot, the hospital in Bloomsbury not far, we stroll down to
the pub, Pat being pushed in his chair. It is one of those moments, etched into
my mind.

And even
though I go back to beloved China, my home is also here in England.

Thursday, 11 October 2018

For those
interested in astrology, Uranus entered Taurus in April; erratic behaviour
will be the result for the next 7 years till it moves onto Gemini. This affects
us all personally and globally. Weather disasters, rains, storms, and huge
weather changing patterns, money and the way we make it, collapse of some
banks, and online entrepreneurship will be on the rise as we find new and
innovative ways to make a living, and have that Uranus freedom, but also family
issues for many of us will be more prevalent than before. For me, in many ways,
this is the month my family were dreading for a long, long time. I will not
dwell on it. Those who know me and my family know Patrick’s story; for others, who
hap on this blog, I will just enclose the link: www.gofundme.com/patpope

My dear,
sweet and lovely brother, Patrick, better known as Pat, a talented
photographer, brave and determined, who has fought so hard in so many ways,
overcoming many physical hardships, suffered a second extreme stroke. www.patpope.com

I rushed
home, having been given a leave of urgency. At the airport all I could do was
pray, as he was undergoing an important, life-saving brain operation.

I held a
silent vigil during that 12 hour flight.

He made it,
and could smile at me, just about. Head opened up, skull cut open, holding on
to life.

I stayed 10
days. My mother, suddenly so small, tiny, like a frail bird holding his life in
hers. Yet, as things are, there were moments of great joy, and the sun coming
up, and shining so beautifully through the trees in mum’s garden. And the
closeness of friends, Patrick’s friends, his girlfriend, family, his lovely,
wonderful friends, words, warmth, long nights of just being and sharing
stories.

Then I had
to come home.

Mum was
amazing, we did the last of the interviews for The Sea Hut, which should be finished by the end of the year. And
for this I thank her tenfold.

And back
now to end of school and to the decision I have been putting off:

Wandered off to meet sweet Yuan, who took
me to AMIO in 4th May Square.

Tucked downstairs is a messy school,
children running everywhere, doting mothers waiting by classes. Vera, the head,
gave me an instant interview and I was employed on the spot. Pinned on the wall,
the head of the international section bio reads:

I
started giving my first English lessons in Istanbul back in the days no one
cared who you were and what you were doing, and I have never looked back.

This is my place, I knew it.

Employed officially, at the weekends. I now
have reinvented myself as primary school teacher.

Panic as I get home and realize I have to learn
how to teach young children. Even though I have my TESOL, I have not taught young
kids. A new learning curve, and no - it is not easy - one needs that youthful mindset.

So a routine is needed. Get up early. Learn
kids lingo - how do I do that? Watch kids. Go and audit a few classes. Ask
other teachers. So far so good. All accomplished. Yet the most difficult task is
going to be mastering the Chinese computer systems, and changing class every 40
minutes

But life is this, full of chance and choice,
and I want so much to learn something new. So, I bought a Udemy course on how
to teach kids English in China. Destined for Internet teaching, but gave me some very good hints.
So, all set to go, here I am!

I love moving from the beach and film
school, my film students, to my school in Qingdao, at the center of the all the
action.

It takes me one and half hour to get to
AMIO. I leave home at 7.30am. I take the Channel bus from the beach, under the
sea, and past the port of Qingdao, to the beach in the city. Once here I stall
a moment as the view is unforgettable.

I love to watch the sun come up, then buy a
hot potato or yam, a coffee, watch the old man and his orange cat till along
comes Bus 26 – my dear friend - which clunks half empty along the seaside and the
old German homes.

I sit by the window dreaming of my films,
my students’ films, and those kids I will meet at 9.00am. And I fall in love
all over again, and think of nothing and
everything.

Two totally different worlds and two
different paces.

The kids downtown have demanding and
motivated parents. The kids reflect their parents’ views and desires. Study,
work hard, do their best, and be a winner. In BFA my students are rebels,
playing with gender issues, ideas, theories, love, poetry, and success is
measured in other ways. I have always been a dualistic person, so this suits me
well, having to change mind set, change clothes so to speak. Pivot from one
idea to another.

Oh - playing games - Pin the tail on the donkey! Now when did you last play that - to
shrieks of laughter and kids rolling on the floor in hysterics?

Then back to film and students, choosing
classes, and meetings with fellow teachers, long drawn out meetings over food,
tea and laughter.

Morning

Qingdao Beach

Qingdao morning

Man and cat

Boy on a horse

Film school

Film school reunion

Feast

Waiting for class

April 2018

The weather is changing, the mists are
coming in and out. Been doing the last of the filming for The Sea Hut. I have the story, finally, I know how it will end, and
why it ends as it does. It is the most exhausting and time consuming work I
have done so far, and for now I cannot talk about it too much, as it is still
being carved and loved.

We - Ying and I - have lot of preparation
at school for mid terms exams. We have also been asked to do the English
translation for the Blue Book of Film,
which is an industry standard book on Chinese film growth. We said yes, and are
now leaning about trade and stocks and shares and grids. It is gruesome work
and tiresome, but a promise made in China is a promise to be kept.

Blue Book of Film

This is a busy month, putting down
foundations for the year, goal setting which we are pushed to do with weekly
meetings. I enjoy it, it helps structure our ideas. One idea which has been
brewing for a year now is an association.

A friend and fellow filmmaker, Helena
Michie, and I are starting an association which will be born and registered in
France in May 2018. FILM BANDITS. We
both have our homes in southern France and a desire to link with other rural
filmmakers, creating ambulant film festivals during the summer in the villages.

One of our goals is to link China with
France and the UK via a student film festival.

I need to take the best with me in the
summer, so we can view them and begin to brainstorm. We have some interesting
work, and Lin, from the independent film festival of Qingdao, will be sending
some work too.

Times are busy, fruitful, interesting.
Creative.

If
any one wants to view some on film-freeway, please contact me and I will give
the password.

Wonderful photos here of Qingdao and the spirit
of an extraordinary city.

This entire month is a manic last minute
clean up. The look of Qingdao is essential to the summit’s success. All
outsiders will not easily be able to enter Qingdao, with tight controls
everywhere, flowers planted, gardeners racing against time.

About Me

Hello, Nǐ hǎo, from Huangdao, China.
Welcome to my blog, from fish to film, about the things and people I encounter on my walks along Jinshatan - Golden Beach - to the film school where I work. Vignettes of various subjects: beach, student life, films, fish, trailers, starfish, lovers, the challenges of working in an all-Chinese environment, and how to get around and about and begin the descent into the curious and wonderful Chinese culture. All depending on the week, for China is forever changing, fast, and things never seem to stay the same for long. Here today, gone tomorrow.
I work at the Beijing Film Academy-College in Qingdao, an annex from Beijing, and the eight kilometre walk from my house takes me along the beach. A journey I have been doing since I came to live here.
I used to write a few descriptive pieces called “Friday Gossip”, and then stopped, for no reason. I guess the end of last semester took its toll, but now I am back, back to the beach, back to old faces and friends. And this time I can speak some Chinese, and am braver, so have more stories to share.